Seoul had big-city charms for students who took part in Bryant’s summer study abroad program, but they found the real soul of South Korea during their time in Andong, a historic city known as the capital of traditional Korean culture.
Fourteen students participated in the 2026 Bryant–Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) Summer Program, earning six course credits at SKKU while also getting an education about the Korea that exists beyond K-pop and kimchi.
Associate Professor of Marketing Kacy Kim, Ph.D., who led the trip to her home country alongside Marketing Professor Sukki Yoon, Ph.D., says cultural immersion was a big portion of this year’s program. Students spent a full week in Andong, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where they stayed in traditional houses, made masks used in Korean dances, enjoyed a private concert beside the Nakdong River, got a crash course in authentic Korean food, and watched Confucian monks perform martial arts.
Local women also taught Bryant students how to extract hemp fibers from the plants and weave them into Andongpo — a traditional hemp cloth that has been used to make fine clothing for more than 1,000 years.
“One student was so loved by the villagers because he helped so much that they said when he comes to the village again, they would like to have him as an intern,” says Kim, adding that the student, Erik Tebaldi '29, stayed in Korea for an extra month after the study abroad program to complete an academic research internship.
“The ladies there tried to adopt me,” recalled Tebaldi with a laugh.
To facilitate the trip, Bryant partnered with Local Shinsegae, a cultural initiative of one of South Korea’s leading retail groups, which also collaborates with the Korea Heritage Service to promote and celebrate the nation’s cultural heritage.
After two weeks exploring Korea, students returned to SKKU — one of the nation’s oldest universities — for four weeks of classroom study interspersed with additional cultural and educational programs.
The classes brought learning to life through field trips and real-world case studies, blurring the lines between classroom learning and cultural exploration. For example, Kim took students in her “Advertising and Popular Culture” course to Seongsu, Seoul’s trendy retail district known for its innovative pop-up stores and brand experiences, to explore how advertising, popular culture, and consumer trends come together in practice.
Yoon’s 'Consumer Behavior’ and ‘Digital Marketing’ courses are typically taught through classroom lectures, slides, and case studies. But in Seoul, students experience these concepts firsthand, such as by examining the city’s ubiquitous digital advertising screens to assess the brands advertising on the giant billboards and the impact of different ad placement, such as the difference between advertising on the left or right side of a building.
“Instead of just discussing marketing concepts in class, students get to see, experience, and analyze them in a real-world setting,” says Kim. “That’s what makes experiential learning so valuable.”
Tebaldi says that while he found the classes and his SKKU internship rewarding, the larger lessons from the trip came from experiences like meeting Korean people, sampling new foods such as duck stomach, and sleeping in a capsule hotel.
“The biggest thing is to try to live as much as you can in somebody else's shoes, or at least eat their food,” says Tebaldi, paraphrasing the late Anthony Bourdain.
“Instead of just discussing marketing concepts in class, students get to see, experience, and analyze them in a real-world setting. That’s what makes experiential learning so valuable.”
Learning about Korean culture also gave Trbaldi insights into ways to approach relationships that differ from the typical Western style of getting right down to business.
“In Korea, you establish a relationship with somebody by taking them out to eat or a bar or somewhere just to talk,” he says. “Through that, you establish a relationship, and through that you meet other people and grow your network, which I think is a good skill.”
Yoon says it was gratifying to give Bryant students a deeper understanding of Korean culture by exposing them to traditional food, dance, music, and clothing.
“All those activities made them look at Korean culture from different angles, and hopefully whatever they see BTS or K-pop we’ve given them enough clues to connect and trace back to what they’ve seen and heard,” he says.